I had the privilege of spending the last couple of days in Milwaukee and Madison, WI where some extraordinary teen pregnancy prevention efforts are underway.  First, we celebrated with Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin  at its annual luncheon where our CEO Sarah Brown gave a rousing address about communicating the basics on relationships, sex, and childbearing with our kids.  PPWI operates 31 family planning and education centers throughout the state, many of which help parents and teens communicate about all the aforementioned icky stuff.

We also spent some time with the talented folks at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel whose editorial board has named teen pregnancy as one of its top agenda items for 2008.  Talk about raising the level of public discourse.  What better way to make people face the facts than to make them swallow the truth with their morning coffee?  And here's the truth:  In Milwaukee, 2,051 teens gave birth in 2006, both the teen pregnancy and teen birth rates increased between 2005 and 2006, and the city's teen birth rate is almost twice the national rate.  There is much work to do.

We also met the good people who are running Milwaukee's Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative.  The local United Way is spearheading the efforts to reduce the city's teen pregnancy rate by 46 percent by 2015.  Not 45 percent.  Not 50.  46 percent.  The precision tells you they're for real.

I might have been in Milwaukee, but the idea of an entire city working together on a common goal made it feel more like Mayberry...and that's a good thing.  They mayor is on board, the health commissioner co-chairs the city-wide oversight committee on teen pregnancy prevention with the publisher of the local paper, and several non-profit and community organizations are working to fund and put on effective programs that help youth avoid too early pregnancy and childbearing.  I commend any community that can bring people together to tackle their common concerns - especially when it's one as tough and important as this one.